Wendell Smallwood Jr. asked a Gloucester County Superior Court judge on Aug. 7 to let him withdraw a guilty plea so he can be released from prison to see Mila, his dying 8-year-old daughter. The request came before Judge Renard Scott in Woodbury, New Jersey, as family members packed the courtroom.
Yaron Helmer told the court that Mila was in palliative care after unsuccessful chemotherapy. “They can’t do anything except make her comfortable now,” he said, adding, “This is not just a matter of legal semantics. It’s about whether his daughter will hold her dad again.”
Woodbury hearing on Aug. 7
Smallwood, 33, is a former Philadelphia Eagles running back and Wilmington-area native who is serving a federal prison sentence for COVID-19 loan fraud. He is also serving a state court sentence after pleading guilty to possessing an AR-15 rifle locked away in the basement of his home in New Jersey.
Helmer argued before Scott that Smallwood should be allowed to withdraw the plea. The argument rested in part on a recent 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decision finding New Jersey’s ban on guns such as AR-15s unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The appeals court later entered an order pausing the effect of that ruling.
Andrew Johns opposes release
Over the past week, the office of Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew Johns opposed Smallwood’s effort to get out early. Helmer said the initial ruling invalidating the crime under which Smallwood was prosecuted gave him a colorable claim of innocence, and he said Smallwood bought the gun legally while living in Pennsylvania and kept it secured in a basement safe.
Smallwood’s federal sentence, prison program participation and disciplinary record now make him eligible to get out of prison on his federal case. But a detention order tied to the New Jersey gun case would keep him behind bars through November unless Scott allows the plea withdrawal request.
The hearing leaves one question in front of Gloucester County Superior Court: whether Scott will act fast enough for Smallwood to be released in time to see Mila in her final days. That timing now controls the case more than any legal argument on paper.
